The Proposal
by limetta
Summary: JONAS. Joe/Stella. He took a deep breath, thrust his bouquet at her, looked right into her baby-blues and whispered bravely, "Stella Malone, will you marry me?" Oneshot.


**Disclaimer: I don't own JONAS.**

**Dedicated to Cayce for putting up for my midnight ramblings about this little plot bunny. xD This was slightly influenced by a HPDM story, but I honestly don't remember the story or the author. If you do, though, PM me and I will gladly credit! :D Enjoy!**

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Joe Lucas was not a fan of commitment. He didn't even like wearing the same shoes two days in a row.

But then he met this girl. She had luscious blonde hair, soft skin and smelled pretty. She even laughed at all his jokes. She thought that the sun was the moon's frenemy and she agreed that black and red were vampire colors, not race car colors.

Which was why he was now standing before her, mustering up every inch of courage in his body to ask a question that either would have him set for life or crush his young heart. He took a deep breath, thrust his bouquet at her, looked right into her baby-blues and whispered bravely, "Stella Malone, will you marry me?"

She stared right back at him. Not jumping for joy, not throwing herself at him in a rib-crushing embrace, not even squealing shamelessly. She just bit her lip, and stared, pure melancholy in her gaze.

"Joe..." She whispered back. "I can't. I'm sorry. Its...It's too late."

"No!" Joe exclaimed. "It's not too late - It can't be - It just." He grabbed her hand, bringing it up to his cheek. "Me and you, Stells. That's how it's always been. It's how it was meant to be. You can- you- you can't just ignore all of that!" He insisted, eyes quickly watering.

Stella sighed, pulling her hand away. "You can't do this to me, Joey. Not today. Josh, he's...He loves me."

"But I've loved you since the first day of third grade!" Joe whimpered, reaching out to touch her again.

Stella looked away. "I'm sorry, Joseph." Her voice wobbled. "You were too late. I'll...I'll see you at the reception." And with that, she ran.

His vision grew blurry as he watched her go; her hair bouncing, eyes shining, her flawless white dress fanned out by the New Jersey breeze.

She looked beautiful, radiant, as every bride should on her special day. Her lips were glossed, her nails clean and lacquered from a french manicure the day before, she even had a daisy chain crowning her blonde head.

His beautiful princess.

_His._

And now she was gone. Forever. Off to marry some random, who probably didn't even know what her favorite color was, or what Popsicle flavored she liked, or how many times she brushed her hair every day. (Pink, orange, and 47. He counted.)

Joe dropped the flowers in his hand as he watched her go, attempting to blink back the tears. His freshly plucked bouquet slipped from his hands, he leaned back onto the park bench, and buried his face into his knees. He didn't need to be seen crying.

Suddenly, a warm hand set on his shoulders. "Joe?"

He glanced upwards, meeting the warm hazel eyes of his older brother.

"I-" He brushed away his tears. "I wasn't crying."

"I never said you were." Kevin commented, joining him on the bench.

Joe leaned back against the bench. "I told her I loved her." He whimpered.

Kevin nodded, patting his shoulder. "She needed to hear it."

"It didn't matter." He snapped bitterly. "It didn't make a difference!" He was snarling now, and stamping his foot. "She's still going to marry...him." He growled.

Kevin looked up, meeting his eyes. "Joe...what did you expect her to do? Leave him? Forsake the happiest day of her life? For you?" He asked, frowning. "She waited around long enough for you to ask her. She found someone else. Let it go."

Joe glowered. "No! I'm not letting it go! She- she- we belong together." His voice wobbled. "No one will _ever_ feel the same way about Stella I do. I love her, Kevin. I'm in love with her. She's my soulmate. I know it, you know it, our parents know it, even Mr. Mittens knows it." He sank back down onto the bench. "I want her back. I want to do this over, do it right."

Kevin sighed, his eyes full of sympathy towards his brother. "You can't do that, Joe. You made choices. You had your fun, chasing around Cara, Tammy, Roxanne.."

"They couldn't even compare to my Stella." He whimpered.

Kevin nodded. "I know, Joe. But you've gotta live with your choices. If you really loved Stella, you'd let her go." He spoke gently. "Besides, you never know. Maybe she'll come back to you."

_If you really loved her, you'd let her go_.

Joe took a long, shaky breath in, exhaling as Kevin pulled him into a brotherly embrace.

"I understand." He whispered into Kevin's shoulder, the tears flowing freely now. "I'll never forget her, Kevin." He choked out.

Kevin rubbed his back soothingly. "I know you won't, Joe."

"JOEY! KEVY!" The 'her' in question shouted at them from across the field. "Hurry up! There's only 10 minutes of recess left, and Joshua and I haven't even been on our honeymoon!" She pouted and stamped her foot.

"IN A MINUTE!" Kevin shouted back. Turning back to his brother, he shrugged. "Like I said, it's okay, Joe. There's always next week." Smiling hopefully, he fished a feel-better-graham cracker from his pocket and gave it to him, taking off in the direction of the swings

After sniffing up the last of his tears, and polishing off his graham cracker, he followed Kevin to the monkey bars - ahem, altar, and watched the prettiest girl in fourth grade marry the idiot who would grow up to be the stoner who forgot his gender every Wednesday.

But, he loved her. Even more than he loved his GI Joe's. So he put on a smile and stood next to the play structure, welcoming the newlyweds into 'flight penelope peach to ow-ah-hoo.'

Besides, he thought, watching Stella drag the unsuspecting Joshua up the tunnel slide, next week, they were selling popsicles during lunch.

He'd show Stella how he treated a _Mrs. Joseph Lucas._

(He thought it had a nice ring to it, too.)

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**DID I FOOL YA? ;D Haha. Review, please. :3**


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